hantsweb Newshttp://www3.hants.gov.uk
hantsweb News RSS feed
Success for bid to fund social work innovation in Hampshire and Isle of Wight http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=669817http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=669817
Success for bid to fund social work innovation in Hampshire and Isle of Wight

Tuesday, 03 March 2015

Hampshire County Council and the Isle of Wight Council have welcomed news that an ambitious bid for funding to transform social care services has been successful.

The Department for Education has confirmed today (3 March 2015) that it is awarding Hampshire and the Isle of Wight almost £4 million from its Innovations Fund in order to reform children's social work.

The funding will be used to introduce a series of measures that challenge the traditional ways of working, significantly reducing bureaucracy while improving outcomes for children in need of care and protection, and reducing spiralling demand for children's social services in the longer term.

Councillor Keith Mans, Deputy Leader and Executive Lead Member for Children's Services at Hampshire County Council, commented: "This is excellent news and is indicative of the Department for Education's confidence in our abilities. We have a proven track record of performance, as recognised by two safeguarding inspections by Ofsted, the most recent in March 2014, that found Children's Services to be 'good' with 'outstanding' elements. Our strategic partnership with the Isle of Wight, Council, that was initiated by the DfE to improve Children's Services on the Island, is showing evidence of making good and steady progress in driving up standards both in children's social services and education."

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight bid sets out seven interlinked elements, which taken together have the potential to remodel social care services across the county and establish a new standard of good practice for other authorities to follow.

These focus on the creation of new specialist family intervention teams, making much better use of voluntary support to reconnect with communities and improving the support to social workers so they have more time to spend with vulnerable children and young people.

Specifically, the elements include:

Creating Family Intervention Teams of practitioners that specialise in domestic abuse, substance misuse or mental health for example, to provide a service for adults but with a clear focus on outcomes for the child;

Building a robust network of volunteers to work with children and families in their communities and support the Family Intervention Teams;

Developing a team of highly skilled administrators to become Social Work Co-ordinators to undertake all the recording for Social Workers and reduce the time that they are office based;

Establish a multi-agency Missing, Exploited and Trafficked Team (MET) specifically to address the needs of children and young people who repeatedly go missing.

The driver for systematic change will be a change in focus, by social care services, moving from the sole needs of the individual child to include those of the child's family. For example, in cases where a child is in need of care or protection because of the parent's actions, such as drug or alcohol addiction, providing support to overcome those problems can avoid a child being taken into care long term, if at all.

The grant will also complement the work of Early Help Hubs and the Supporting Troubled Families programme in providing targeted support for families.

Councillor Mans added: "We have consistently afforded a high level of priority to children's social services yet pressures on the service continue to rise and this will be a continuing challenge in the face of further reductions in government funding. Through this bid, our aim is to develop the foundations for a whole system change to create the right conditions and capacity for professionals to work even more effectively with children and families in order to get it right first time and reduce the number of referrals or repeated interventions."

Hampshire County Council has been able to offer 98.4% of parents a place for their child at a secondary school of their choice, with 97.6% being offered a place at their first or second preference school for September 2015.

Councillor Peter Edgar, Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Education, said: "Once again we have been able to offer a high number of pupils a place at their preferred secondary school and that's a significant achievement considering the size of our county. With 82% of our schools ranked as good or outstanding, Hampshire children can benefit from a high standard of education.

"I do understand there will be some disappointment for the very few parents who did not secure a place at one of their chosen schools. Each year we have a handful of schools where the demand for a place is greater than available capacity. I see this as a compliment to the high standard of teaching at these schools."

Pupils who did not secure a place at one of their chosen schools are allocated a place at a school, near to where they live, with available places. Parents have the right to appeal in these situations, and can put their child's name down on their preferred school's waiting list. Places do become available if parents change their mind, or families move home.

The admissions team is now processing primary school applications with offers due to go out to parents on 16 April 2015.

]]>Tue, 03 Mar 2015 09:45:00 GMTGreatham children say goodbye to the car for a safer, healthier school runhttp://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=669258http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=669258
Greatham children say goodbye to the car for a safer, healthier school run

Thursday, 26 February 2015

Pupils at Greatham Primary School have decided to take action to reduce the problems of traffic congestion on the school run and improve safety for pedestrians outside the school gates.

The village school had extremely low walking rates (as few as 14% of children are currently walking to school on a regular basis), so the school has been working hard to increase the children's awareness of active travel through Hampshire County Council's My Journey initiatives. This has resulted in scooter training for all children, Bikeability training for year 5, a "Biker's Breakfast" for children cycling to school as well as pedestrian training for year 2. The school has also recently acquired two scooter storage pods to enable scooters to be left safely at school during the day.

The school's Junior Road Safety Officers (JRSOs) have been encouraging their peers to walk to school as much and as often as possible, even if they only walk part of the journey. Following a route audit to help them assess a safe walking route to school, the school has persuaded St John's Church and the Greatham Inn to let parents park in their car parks and walk the last five minutes to school, known as 'Park and Stride'. The staff and JRSOs took steps to motivate pupils by demonstrating that parking a little further away from school and walking part of the way not only helps children keep fit but is also fun, making it safer for everyone by keeping cars, and pollution, away from the immediate vicinity of the school.

On Wednesday 25 February, as a reward for the school's work towards a sustainable travel plan, Hampshire County Council organised a 'scientific' themed walk to school from St John's Church in a move designed to get the walking children noticed and to motivate others to join in. This was followed by two scientific theatre shows put together by Histrionics linking the school's chosen theme with sustainable travel messages.

Hampshire County Council's School Travel Planning Team works alongside schools, parents and communities to encourage even more pupils to travel in a sustainable way to school. Recognition for this work comes through the national STARS scheme, run by Modeshift, which was rolled out to all schools in England at the end of 2014. Greatham hope that, in addition to their sustainable travel activities to date, by launching their new Park and Stride sites they will have now achieved Bronze STARS status.

Head teacher and sustainable travel champion Jo Goman commented, "At Greatham Primary School, we value our environment and we value walking. We are encouraged by the number of children persuading their parents to leave the car further away from school so they can walk, cycle or scoot the rest of the way."

Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, Councillor Seán Woodward, added: "By walking, scooting, cycling and using public transport for school journeys, we can all really help reduce congestion and pollution in the local area whilst increasing the safety of our children, bringing benefits to all and making Greatham an even nicer place to live."

The Modeshift STARS (Sustainable Travel Accreditation Scheme) is funded by the Department for Transport's Hampshire Sustainable Transport Towns Fund (HSTT). The objectives of the Government's fund are to reduce congestion at peak times, and to reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. These objectives will be met at a local level, through 'My Journey' initiatives to encourage less use of the private car and a more active lifestyle by encouraging walking, cycling, use of public transport or car sharing to travel around, particularly for local journeys.

Hampshire County Council's 'Park and Stride' initiative, supported by the My Journey project, aims to help schools to identify suitable sites for parents to park so that even if they have to drive their children to school, they can at least walk 5 to 10 minutes to school. This helps to keep traffic away from the school gate, making it safer for everyone and so enabling more active ways of travelling, including cycling.

The My Journey project is funded by the Department of Transport as part of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) aimed at reducing carbon and supporting economic growth.

The 'My Journey' campaign, to encourage people to consider their travel options for everyday journeys and to try alternative ways of travelling instead of in their car. Leaving the car at home can save people money, increase their level of physical activity and help to reduce congestion and carbon emissions.

A budget that will inject hundreds of millions of pounds of new economic activity into Hampshire was finalised by Hampshire County Councillors today.

The Budget for 2015/16 includes a Capital Programme representing £876m spend over four years - the biggest ever investment in jobs and supply chains. It provides resource and capacity to deliver more and better schools places, improved roads, Extra Care homes and superfast broadband.

Council Leader Roy Perry said it was a "careful, cautious and competent budget". It will keep Hampshire in a strong position to tackle the further austerity measures needed to meet the ongoing downward pressures on Local Government funding over the next few years, when revenue savings will become very much harder to find.

Starting early and using transformation programmes to generate significant efficiencies, the Council has worked through a reduction of 51 per cent in general grant from Government since 2010. The job of managing the council's finances had been more difficult than ever.

The revenue budget, which covers the cost of providing services, has had to be reduced by a further 12 per cent in 2015/16 to meet cuts in grant, and to balance demand pressures linked to an ageing population and children in care. As a priority area, additional resources of £12.5m have been built into the Children's Services budgets for vulnerable children in need of support and services. Following consultation, the budget also provides money to sustain the Short Breaks programme for children with disabilities and for youth services, while other sources of funding are explored.

The County's share of the Council Tax has been set at the same level for the sixth year in a row at £1037.88 for a Band D property. The Leader said that, with inflation at 11 per cent in that time, this represented a real term decrease of 9.9 per cent, reducing the call in real terms on stretched household finances.

He said Hampshire County Council was maintaining its record of having one of the lowest levels of Council Tax, while providing some of the highest levels of services and with one of the lowest levels of Government grant per head of population.

"According to Ofsted, our children's services are some of the best in the country. We lead the country in property and shared services, growing an expanded organisation whereby other councils buy increasing levels of professional services from us, allowing us to retain high quality staff and capacity for the benefit of Hampshire residents. The condition of Hampshire roads scores highest with road users, again by independent evaluation" he said.

The Council will need to find further savings of around £100m by 2017, on top of the £240m it is on track to have removed from its expenditure by March 2016 with this budget. The Council will begin consultation in March on a range of options to deliver the right support to residents at the right time and in the best way, which is likely to mean scaling back some areas and doing some things differently. Cllr Perry said more and more partnership working between county, district and town and parish and the voluntary sector was needed to address these pressures.

Referring to the start of work last week on a new £548,000 youth drop-in centre at Ringwood, Cllr Perry said the Town Council contributed to the running of youth services and has contributed £70,000 capital to the new centre. He encouraged other town and parish councils to think if they could do anything to help."Increasingly county funding will have to be targeted at those in greatest need - if local communities want to retain more general provision - and I applaud them if they do - then we all need to be more imaginative and supportive.

"I want the county to help communities, just as we help with the fleet of 70 community mini buses that are operated by councils of community service and parish councils across the county," he said.

Councillor Perry also paid tribute to the commitment of council staff who were having to take on new and different roles. The demography and complexity of adult social care in particular mean that the services and management capacity were stretching the very best talent across different organisations. By expanding its services to other authorities it was offering a future in an organisation that was growing its businesses, growing its capacity and creating opportunities for promotion and personal development.

Hampshire County Council has joined forces with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, the NHS and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to encourage people to protect their families from the dangers of secondhand smoke and reduce the risk of fire by not smoking indoors.

80% of cigarette smoke is invisible and odourless and opening doors and windows does not remove its harmful poisons. Breathing in other people's tobacco smoke is known to cause a range of disorders from minor eye and throat irritation through to heart disease and lung cancer. Secondhand smoke is especially dangerous for children, babies, and women who are pregnant. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk of asthma, meningitis and middle ear infections. Cigarettes are also the second most common cause of fires in Hampshire homes.

Hampshire County Council is also seeking people's views on smoke free homes and cars and asking people to complete their online survey or you can search online for Hampshire smoke free homes. The survey results will help to inform a decision by the borough council on whether to introduce a voluntary ban on smoking near children's outdoor play areas.

The Step Out smoke free homes campaign aims to spread the word that the best way to protect your family from the harms of cigarette smoke is to make your home and car smoke free. The campaign includes a new resource pack for primary and junior schools for pupils to learn about secondhand smoke. Schools are also taking part in a competition for pupils to design a poster to encourage people not to smoke around children in outdoor play parks, with an exclusive VIP tour of Basingstoke Fire Station on offer as the prize.

In addition the County Council and the Quit4Life Hampshire Stop Smoking Service are providing training for Children's Centre staff, Health Visitors and School Nurses.

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health said: "We hope this campaign will capture the imagination of local school children and give us some brilliant designs that will really help to spread the message that the best way to protect children from the dangers of cigarettes is not to smoke around them."

Station Manager Ian Wadmore of Basingstoke Fire Station said: "We are delighted to be supporting our partners with this initiative. As a fire service we would encourage people to be aware of the increased risk of fire as well as the dangers of second hand smoke. Smoker's materials, such as cigarettes and matches, cause the largest proportion of fire deaths in the home. If you do choose to smoke, stub cigarettes out properly, dispose of them carefully and always ensure that you keep matches and lighters out of children's reach."

For smokers who want to quit altogether, the local NHS Stop Smoking Service, Quit4Life, can offer friendly help and professional support for free - contact them on 0845 602 4663 or email: quit4life@nhs.net

Hampshire County Council's investment in youth services and facilities across the county was highlighted when Council Leader, Councillor Roy Perry, joined young people from Ringwood School, Ringwood Town Council and other funding partners, on-site to mark the start of construction for Ringwood's new, purpose built youth facility.

The building will be taking shape, next to the skate park, on Carvers Playing Field, over the next 24 weeks at a total cost of £548,000. Hampshire County Council has contributed £400,000 to the project from its 'Investing in Hampshire Fund' adding to a £70,000 contribution from New Forest District Council, £75,000 from the Town Council and £5,000 from Ringwood School.

Councillor Perry commented: "This is an excellent example of councils working in partnership to improve services and facilities that are especially of benefit to Hampshire's young people. I am very pleased that the County Council has been able to contribute to this investment, and I commend the Town Council and Ringwood's local community for their vision and commitment to put up some of their own funding. I am confident that this will be a well-used and much valued building, with regular activities and sports, as well as access to advice and support on a wide range of issues, such as health, learning, training and employment."

School student, Sam Whittingham, said: "It will finally be a place for young people to go after years of trying to raise the money for it, and years of having nowhere for young people to go. It will be a good place for people to meet with their friends and have fun and some independence."

Fellow student, Jade Wardle agreed. She said: "It will be really good because we have waited five years and when it is finished we will be able to come here and talk to our friends instead of using the skate park or sitting under a tree."

The building will provide a permanent base for youth-based activities and youth workers to include a youth club, as well as charities and voluntary organisations that provide advice and support services for young people. It will also be a meeting place for the Town Counci's Youth Advisers, and can be hired for parties and events.

Hampshire schools have been finding out how to make the most of every inch of their school grounds, with the help of landscape design specialists from Hampshire County Council.

The Council's Landscape Strategy Team is inspiring local schools with innovative ideas on how to use their external spaces for learning - and now they have been highly commended for 'adding significant value' to the learning environment, in the Landscape Institute's annual awards.

Otterbourne C of E Primary School is one of the schools that has taken up the service, aiming to provide a greater variety of learning environments using the whole of their existing grounds. Working with the Landscape Strategy Team to develop a long term vision, the school then implemented its plan over time, delivering the construction over a number of years culminating in the Otterbourne Wildlife Lodge. This is now used as a teaching and learning base for the school and also other schools and groups. (See information about the OWL on their website).

The design developed for Otterbourne School was one of three examples of the team's work considered in the Landscape Institute's awards. Judges said the team's work provided a basis for participating schools to secure investment and deliver many interventions that cumulatively have added significant value to the learning environment across the area.

Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Education, Cllr Peter Edgar, said: "A growing body of evidence suggests that outside learning and play has a positive impact on children's lives and educational advancement. Safe and inspiring outdoor spaces at the heart of the community are a great opportunity to encourage healthy lifestyles and enable children to experience nature first-hand.

"I am delighted that our Landscape Strategy Team has received this well-deserved award from the Landscape Institute. As the number of children in Hampshire increases, it is so important that we make the most of all the space around our schools. The work of our Landscape Strategy Team can also be a factor for schools in securing funding from other sources for improvement projects."

Head Teacher of Otterbourne C of E Primary School, Alison Langrish, said: "At our school we are fortunate to have a diverse range of outdoor spaces, including our very special school meadow. Working with the Landscape Strategy Team we jointly created a clear plan, taking account of the views of children, staff and parents, which has guided us in our development of all these areas. What we have now is a once under-used outdoor space being creatively rejuvenated to enhance education and opportunity for all our children in an innovative and exciting way."

]]>Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:54:00 GMTMake a healthy start for your family this new yearhttp://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=664575http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=664575
Make a healthy start for your family this new year

Thursday, 15 January 2015

Hampshire families with children aged five to 13 years can now sign up to the MEND programme (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do It!).

The ten week programmes help families to work together to develop sustainable, fun and healthy lives and address issues associated with being overweight. It helps all the family understand the importance of being active and the many fun ways to get active as a family as well as the complexities of things such as food labelling, different types of food, how much and what types of food you need.

The new programmes will be starting soon in Havant and Rushmoor, aimed at families with children aged seven to 13 years old. To benefit, the child must be above a healthy weight (overweight or obese) - you can check your child's weight and it may also be recommended that you try MEND after your child has had their height and weight measured by their school nursing services.

Havant: Begins on 2nd February 2015 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6pm at Havant Leisure Centre for seven to 13 year olds. To book a place on this programme please call Sarah Moulds, Havant Programme Manager on 023 9248 8477 or email smoulds@horizonlc.com

Rushmoor: Begins on Monday 2nd March on Monday & Wednesday from 4.15pm - 6.15 pm at the Connaught Leisure Centre for seven to 13 year olds. To book a place on this programme please call Linda Bown, Rushmoor Programme Manager on 07557 334155 or email linda.bown@rushmoor.gov.uk

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, Hampshire County Council's Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: "Being above a healthy weight during childhood can lead to serious problems later in life and increases the likelihood of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Through the MEND approach children can enjoy active play sessions as well as learn with their family about healthy food choices. Parents are helped to discuss ways to encourage behaviour change such as reducing the amount of time their children spend watching television and increasing physical activity levels. The ultimate aim is to provide a greater understating of food and exercise to empower people to live fitter and healthier lives".

One Havant residents attending a local programme with her daughter, said: "One of the things which really helped was getting support from not just the leader but also the other parents. My daughter made some friends from the club and really enjoyed being able to run around and play with other children. The key thing that helped with her weight loss, was learning about the nutrients and hidden fat and sugar in foods. MEND doesn't just teach about calories, but actually explains about different nutrients. Since the course began in the summer, my daughter has lost 2.5 stone".

To take advantage of this free programme, families need to commit to the 10 week programme and look to make changes to their lifestyle. To be eligible to attend MEND the child must either live or attend school within the area covered by Hampshire County Council. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Health professionals, teachers and families themselves can book onto a programme by contacting their local programme manager. Full details about the programme and a list of contact details is available on the Hampshire Healthy Weights website.

This service is commissioned by Public Health at Hampshire County Council and co-ordinated by Sport Hampshire & IOW.

]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2015 09:19:00 GMT£4 million proposed for more school places in Romseyhttp://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=664409http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hantswebnewslist.htm?id=664409
£4 million proposed for more school places in Romsey

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Hampshire County Council is earmarking a £4 million investment for primary school places in Romsey and North Baddesley, as part of proposals for the Children's Services Capital Programme (2015 to 2018).

In common with the rest of the county, Romsey area is experiencing growing demand for school places due to rising birth rates, new housing developments and more families moving in to Hampshire.

The proposed investment is part of the County Council's 2013 - 2018 strategy to ensure there is a school place for every child in Hampshire and, if agreed, would create a further 210 school places, in North Baddesley and Romsey, from 2018.

This further investment would add to that already made in Romsey, through the expansion of Cupernham Infant and Junior Schools by 210 places, also at a cost of £4 million.

Decisions about which schools might expand are still to be taken. In developing plans, the County Council will work with Test Valley Borough Council to understand the position in terms of additional housing plans in the area, and in collaboration with local schools to determine where there may be capacity for expansion, and the most suitable and viable locations.

As well as helping to provide over 11,000 new primary school places needed in Hampshire by 2018, the total proposed Capital Programme (£229 million) for the county includes funding proposals to ensure that existing school buildings are maintained in good condition, there is better provision for pupils with special educational needs, and money is made available for other improvements on school sites.

In 2014 almost 90% of children in Hampshire gained access to their first choice place and over 97% of children get into one of their first three preferred choices. This puts Hampshire in the top league of providing school places.

Services for children, young people, and their families who are most in need of care and protection have been prioritised by Hampshire County Council in its Children's Services' revenue budget proposals, for 2015/16.

The revenue budget report outlines the savings needed to be achieved by the Department by the end of the 2014/15 financial year, and looks ahead to 2015/16. One of the significant pressures highlighted in the report is the continued demand for children's social care services.

At its meeting in December 2014, when considering the County Council's financial position, the Cabinet acknowledged that in order to deliver the proposed savings, some changes in service areas across the Council would be more complex and challenging than others. Cabinet also recognised that meaningful consultation with service users was necessary in order to fully understand the impact of any proposed change - and that getting this right was very important for service users and the County Council. On that basis, Cabinet recognised some proposed savings may not be achievable in the 2015/16 budget year, and would, therefore, require further financial support on a one-off basis for that period.

This has proven to be the case for proposed changes to the Short Breaks Activities Programme and Youth Support Services. The Executive Lead Member for Children's Services, taking into account the feedback throughout the consultations, does not intend to make any changes to the current form and level of funding for Short Breaks services during the 2015/16 budget year. The same applies to the Youth Support Services which will also be maintained, but with some proposed minor changes to the grant process.

This means that the on-going delivery of these services will be supported while the wider service transformation proposals are considered as part of the County Council's Transformation to 2017 programme, in response to further anticipated reductions in the grant from central Government.

Councillor Keith Mans, Executive Lead Member for Children's Services, said: "I am pleased that these proposals are being put forward, which will enable us to consider the future of these services in the wider context of the Council's service transformation programme - Transformation to 2017."

The Revenue Budget Report for Children's Services will be considered by the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services at his Decision Day on 21 January 2015.

Budding musicians across Hampshire are being invited to bid for a share of funding to help them develop their talents.

Applications are being invited for the 2015 round of Dayas Music Scholarships. This is an annual grants scheme administered by Hampshire County Council - set up from a sum of money left by Mrs Hayton (nėe Dayas), a former Hampshire teacher, in her will.

These music scholarships give the chance for people, over 18 years of age, to seek support to have lessons either for new musical interests or to help them refresh previously learned musical skills in singing or playing an instrument. Applications are also welcomed from those wanting to further develop skills in areas such as composition, conducting and performance.

Councillor Peter Edgar, Executive Member for Education at Hampshire County Council, said: "This is a great opportunity for people to have a go at learning an instrument - something they may always have wanted to do but not had the chance or resources to do so before. Equally it opens the way for others who may have played an instrument before to reawaken their interest and enthusiasm. The application process is all dealt with in writing so people don't need to worry that they have to audition in front of a panel."

Application forms and further details are available from Hampshire County Council's Music Service on 023 8065 2037 or by e-mail to music.service@hants.gov.uk. The closing date for applications is 31 January 2015.